Flamed tigersnail

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

N5 - Secure
SNR - Unranked

Minnesota

not listed

Description

Flamed tigersnail is a common, medium-sized, land snail. It occurs in the United States and southern Canada east of the Great Plains. It is one of the more common land snails in eastern North America, and it is common in Minnesota.

Flamed tigersnail is highly adaptable and is found in a wide variety of habitats, including forests, roadsides, railroads, suburban gardens, and urban vacant lots. In wooded areas they are often found on logs, climbing trees, under leaf litter, and on rocks.

Measurements of snails are typically given in terms of shell size. The shell of flamed tigersnail is ⅝″ to 1″ (17 to 25 mm) in diameter, averaging ¾″ (20 mm) in diameter and ½″ (12 mm) in height.

The shell is wider than tall (heliciform) and flattened but with a small peak (depressed). It has 5½ to 6 coils and is roughly circular when viewed from above. The opening (aperture) is rounded and the lip is thin, not expanded. The surface is pale with dark markings, and the colors are variable. The background ranges from light yellowish brown to brown, and the markings range from yellowish brown, reddish brown, deep red, to dark brown. There is a series of irregular dark bands on the upper side and dark slashes on the underside. The bands are often broken into irregular splotches. The surface is slightly wrinkled and is heavily covered with coarse, transverse ridges (ribs). The ridges are strongly angled on the sides, and they diminish toward the base of the shell. The innermost whorl (embryonic whorl) is smooth and gray. On the underside, the deeply indented center of the shell (umbilicus) is wide, almost one-third the total width of the shell.

The body is grayish brown to brownish black. The muscular organ on the under surface of the body (foot) is pale. There are two pairs of sensory projections (tentacles). The larger, upper tentacles have eyes at the tips.

Size

Shell diameter: ⅝″ to 1″ (17 to 25 mm)

Similar Species

Habitat

Forests, roadsides, railroads, vacant lots, and gardens.

Ecology

Season

Behavior

Life Cycle

Food

Decaying plant material, fungi, and algae

Distribution

Sources

24, 30, 83.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu. Accessed 2/22/2026).

Anguispira (Patula) alternata (Say, 1817) in GBIF Secretariat (2023). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org. Accessed 2/22/2026.